Clothes-pin.



WILLIAM E. FAULKINGrI-IAM, OF JONESPRT, MAINE.

CLOTHES-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Oct. 1, 1907.

Application filed February 18,1907. Serial No. 358,060.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. FAULKINGHAM, a citizen of the vUnitedStates, residing at .Ionesport, in the county of Washington and State ofMaine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMClothes-Pins, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in clothespins and consists of thenovel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

One object oi the invention is to provide a simple and practicalclothes-pin which will support the clothes upon the line without thenecessity of engaging them with the line and which will hence preventthem from freezing upon the line.

Another object of theinvention is to provide a clothespin'which may beapplied to the clothes before taking them out of the house and thenquickly and easily engaged with the clothes-line.

'.lhe above and other objects are accomplished by the improvedconstruction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which l Figure1 is a side elevation of my improved clothespin; Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section through the same; and Fig. 3 is a detail transversesection taken on the plane indicated byl the'line 3-3 in Eig. 1. j Myimproved clothes-pin comprises a single body 1 carrying two similarclasps 2,3 the former of which is adapted to receive the. clothes andthe latter the clothes line, as will be readily seen upon reference toFig.2.

The body 1 forms one member 4 of the clasp 2 and also one member 5 ofthe clasp 3, the other members 6, 7 of said clasps comprising leverswhich are arranged upon the opposite edges of the body 1 and arepivotally I connected thereto by springs l8,y 9 which also actuate them.Each of said Vsprings is formed from a single right angular shaped arms13, 14 which project from the opposite ends of the coil l10 and arearranged upon and engaged with the'side faces ofthe levers and theintermediate body. The armv13 of eachspringhas its I end 1'5" 'bent atright angles and seated' in a-transverse l j t 16 formed the body 1,andthe arm 14 '17 bent atright angles and seated in a trans-Q` I."verse'lseat' 18 inl onecf the levers. Each of thearms i 13.is formedwith ajcurved offset portion or hump 13 AThese offset portions allow thearms 13 to lie fiat against the opposite sides of the levers. It will benoted that the ends' 15, 17 of the two-arms of each spring project inopposite directions and owing to their engagement with the seats 16, 18and to the shape of said arms 13, 14, the leverswill be effectively.retained upon the body 1 but at the same time will be permitted to swing'upon the journals formed upon the coils 10 and will .be actuated by thesprings to their closed position shown in Fig. 1. The member 4 of theclasp 2 hasA its jaw Vformed with a curved projection 19 and a curvedseat 20 and the oppdsingedge or jaw of the member or lever 6 issimilarly shaped so that there will be little or no .danger of tearingor injuring the clothes willen they are engaged with or disengaged fromsaid clasps. The

members 5, 7 of the claspA 3 having their opposing edges or jaws formedwith concaves 21 adapted to receive -the clothes-line between them, asshown in Fig.' 2. The upper or handle ends of the two levers or members6, 7 and the upper end of the body 1 are beveled, asA

shown, so that said levers may be,swung inwardly to a considerableextent.

In order to more effectively prevent the levers or members 6, 7 fromshifting laterally, I provide upon the opposite sides of the bodytransversely projecting guide pins 22. The latter are arranged uponthe-opposite sides of the pivots or journals formed by the coils 10 andproject beyond the edges of the body l'adistance suicient to engage theopposite sides of said levers or members and to hold them in properalinement with the' body. These guide Apins may be constructed andsecured to the body in any suitable manner but as shown they are formedbythe ends of subf 'stantially U-shaped pieces of wire which are securedto the body by staples 23.

ABy providing the two levers 6, 7 upon the opposite sides ofthe body 1and adjacent to the opposite ends of said body lso that the handle endsof said levers project in the same direction and are comparatively closetogether, it will be seen that when the device is grasped in the hand,the handle ends of said levers may be simultaneously actuated to openboth of the 'clasps so that the upper onev may be engaged-withtheclothes I -line while the clothes. or garments t o be'dried may bevslipped into the lower one. yUpon reference'to Fig.r 1

it will be seen that when the upper end of the ldevice is grasped in onehand, the4 thumb may be engaged with the upper or handle end of thelever 7 while the second, thirdand fourth fingers may be engaged withthe upper or handle end of the lever 6, the arrangement when so grasped,both levers may. be simultaneously opened by tightening the grasp, as bereadily un- 5 `and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

10 i leversprojecting toward the same end of the body and the derstood.This construction therefore permits both 'clasps tobe operated by theone hand while the other is free for other purposes. y Having thusdescribed my invention what I claim 1'. A clothes-pin 'comprising a`body `and a pair of levers arranged upon oppositesdes of the same andpivoted intermediate their ends, each of said levers having a jw at oneendwand a handle at its other end; the jaws of said handles of saidleyers projecting in the opposite direction and ,beingv arranged indiv/erging relation whereby both mayA be Igraspedf in .one hand andsimultaneously pressed toward thel'salne end 0fthe bo'dytosimultaneouslyopen "15 said jaws; subs't'ntialiy as set forth. j

2,.-A- clothespin. comprising 'tivo 'ce-acting members' formed .-W-ith'opposing seats, aisprng having a centrally arranged cylindricalcoil-',t'o engage said seats and -form a journal or pi vot"a11d armsonthe ends of said coil en-.I

2K0l gaged with the opposite fcesof .said members, saidnrmssbeingio'rmedwlthlaterally projecting oilset portions and `presence of'two Witnesses.

transverse guide pins carried by one of said members and adapted toengage the opposite faces of the other member v and to project beneaththe olset portions-of said arms, substantially as set f orth. Y v l 3. Aelothe'spln comprising two Aco-acting -members termed with opposingseats, a spring -havngn centrally arranged' cylindrical coil to engagesaid seats' and form a pivot or journal and arms on the ends of saidcoll to engage said members and hold them together, and 'EI-shape guidesarranged upon one of said members, one guide'belng uponl each side ofthe pivot coil of, the spring, and eadh of sold guides having its closedend surrounding the member -to A( which it isvattached and also havingitsmgld parallel arms engged lWith'the opposite sides of the othermember 'to' 'prevent lateral movement of one member with `respect to theother, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. In testimonywhereof 1 hereunto alix my signature inl

